I went to Busan for the weekend for the purpose of jumping in the shark tank. Of course we had to make a weekend of it.
Friday after work, my co-worker Jacob and I went home to get our things and then met up infront of the McDonalds (about halfway between our homes) at 5:15 to catch a taxi. I had thought about the traffic earlier but then didn't consider it. Needless to say, the traffic was horrible. We were cursing almost the whole way due to the fact that our train was departing at 6:00 SHARP. The freeway was backed up because some idiot drove into a brick wall. ARGH!! We were only near Yongsan station with only about 7 minutes to go. We told the taxi driver to please hurry, not that he could really do much. He did help a bit and drove on the shoulder a couple of times to pass. By the time our taxi pulled up outside Seoul Station, we had only 3 minutes to get to the train. Jacob threw the money into the front seat and we sprinted across the front area, up the stairs and into the building. THEN... with only 2 minutes to get through the entire station, my backpack zipper came open and a bunch of things fell out - socks, make-up bag, bra, etc. ACK!!!! Jacob ran back, scooped up my things while I worked on getting my zipper back up as to not loose anything else and we were sprinting again - him carrying my things. Up the stairs to the KTX gates and then down the stairs to the train. I was watching my clock the entire way. We JUST made it. The doors were going to close. We got into the closest car then walked back several cars to our seats. We were so out of breath and my heart was pounding for the next few hours. SO close. Another second and we would have missed it. Shane and Eileen, some friends of mine, were very worried that we had missed it and were trying to figure out what to do. They were considering trying to stop the train, as I had called when we were running into the station... Whether or not he understood what I was saying, I don't know, since I was concentrating more on getting there than what I was saying.
We were SOOOOO lucky.
We arrived in Busan at around 8:45. We were the first of the group (of about 12) that were arriving Friday night. We took the subway to Haeundae and then walked to the hotel. We picked our mats (first come first serve!!!) and then headed out to find some food. The 3 of them wanted seafood, of course - go to the sea, eat seafood. We went to one of the little restaurants along the boardwalk. Sitting on the second floor overlooking the sea was so nice. The weather was perfect. Cool, but warm enough that we didn't need coats.
We were SOOOOO lucky.
We arrived in Busan at around 8:45. We were the first of the group (of about 12) that were arriving Friday night. We took the subway to Haeundae and then walked to the hotel. We picked our mats (first come first serve!!!) and then headed out to find some food. The 3 of them wanted seafood, of course - go to the sea, eat seafood. We went to one of the little restaurants along the boardwalk. Sitting on the second floor overlooking the sea was so nice. The weather was perfect. Cool, but warm enough that we didn't need coats.
Eileen (Korean) ordered fish soup for everyone.
Not very appetizing if you ask me (well, since I don't like any seafood, that is not surprising). She ordered non-seafood pajeon (green onion pancake) for me.
The side dishes were pretty good, too - a zucchini dish, a spicy squid and raddish dish (I picked out the raddish bits to eat and they weren't tainted by the squid, surprisingly enough), peanuts, and shrimp and little sardines which the others polished off several dishes of. Of course, beer and soju (Busan Soju - C1) were also ordered.
After dinner we went back to the hotel to meet some of the others that had just arrived. The guys had a bit of fun on the little coin bumper cars, except for Shane.... Oh Shane! - he put coins in but it just wouldn't work.
[taken from the Hannam Bridge]
chicken kebabs
lamb kebabs
I watched for about an hour before I had to head home to get ready to go out for dinner.
The fashion show was interesting. It was high fashion rather than wearable fashion, for the most part. Some I really liked.
[the yellow one on the right, I like. the one on the left... ummm.... what the hell is that?]
[view of the back of that same strange one]
Another thing I noticed is that some of the models had horrible legs. One had scabs all over her legs (not uncommon to see here, for some reason - scratching mosquito bites, maybe?), one has bruises, another had blood on the backs of her knees (the one in the yellow dress that I kinda like). It looked like she had just cut herself shaving.
Anyway, it was fun watching the show.
Skull Rock, an old bombed army bunker, etc.
The sides are iron and rock the entire way with little water falls everywhere. Between rapids, there are smoother stretches to just relax and enjoy the peaceful scenery and beautiful weather. It was fantastic weather!!! The river itself is clean and clear. According to Alex, it is grade A water and is perfectly drinkable as is.
At one stretch between rapids, we had a chance to go jumping. The rock was ~3m high.... It seemed MUCH higher when standing up there, though (maybe since our eyes weren't right on the rocks??).
Jumping was great. Alex literally flew on his jump!!! I asked him why we didn't jump the last time I went. I guess the company that organized the trip the last time only used his company for the rafting, and didn't want to do the jumping. REALLY??? Grrr. Last time I went we were all disappointed that we didn't jump.
Anyway... At another smooth stretch, we got to take a little swim. Some water fights and dunking fights were of course, expected. Alex was SO funny. He dunked several people.
The two Korean girls in the group had it the worst (though possibly the most fun). He grabbed them from behind and was flopping them from side to side. It really looked like they were just rag dolls, the way he threw them around. Then for a final dunk, he turned around with them and flipped them over his head. To others, he did a "washing clothes" dunk, in which he dunked several times (like using a washing board). He would always pull them up at the end and ask if they were okay. LOL. Once back on the boat, we played some games. There are many games to play on the rafts. Viking, Standing Viking, Shark, Titanic, etc. First we tried Standing Viking. You stand on the sides of the raft, holding yourselves up with the paddles. On "1" one side goes down, the other stands up. On "2" the sides switch, one standing up and the other going down. The raft rocks so much that one side usually ends up falling into the water. Only one of the guys ended up falling off. Ha ha ha. Then we did Titanic. As none of us girls trusted any of the guys, the two guys got to be Jack and Rose at the front of the boat. "Rose" stood on the edge of the raft and "Jack" supported her (him). Then everyone else paddles as hard as they can making the boat go in circles. Sometimes, Jack and Rose end up both falling in, other times, Jack pushes Rose or can't support her well enough so she falls in. On OUR Titanic, they both got pushed in. SO funny!!! Alex ran up the raft, pushed them in and then ran back to his seat pretending that nothing happened. LOL. Once we reached the end point, we carried the raft up the VERY steep hill and then walked up to catch our ride back to the start point. Then it was lunch time. Lunch was great. Rice, a spicy chicken dish, kimchi, veggies, and soup. A typical Korean lunch, but it was delicious. Once we all had our fill, it was off to the ATVing area. Alex, of course, had to take another group rafting so couldn't join us.
ATVing started out with a bit of instructions - brakes, accelerator, clutch, etc. We had to follow a guide the whole time, but it was great fun. Up and down hills and around the countryside.
[break time atop a hill]
[that is a grave - the Korean countryside is covered in little grave mounds, new and old. Koreans take care of their grandparents and family tombs. They take a day every now and then from the city to go into the country to take care of their family graves.]
ATVing ended too soon then. We all would have like to have gone more (same for the rafting!!). Oh well. Next time. Back at the rafting start point, we showered (rather than waiting in line at our pension where only one can shower at a time, of course) and headed up the hill to the pension.
We had a little cabin type room. Just one room, though, with a little bathroom/shower. I got the bed, the others had to sleep on the little mats on the floor. :) The pension is run by a cute little old couple. Alex was still rafting so we took the time to relax, and break out some of the drinks. I made Sangria (white wine, vodka/rum, pomegranate juice, white peach, blueberries, etc) for the weekend and there was beer and vodka as well. When Alex was finished he picked me up and the two of us went shopping for food. Meat, lettuce, mushrooms, potatoes, beer, soju, juice, water, plastic plates, wooden chopsticks, scissors (for the meat), a knife (to cut potatoes, and mushrooms) foil plates, cups, coals for the bbq, etc. all for about $70. BBQ Time!!! We got it all set up and Alex started cooking. Halaboji (grandfather) started the coals for us with his ummm... torch?? What a fantastic toy!! The guys were drooling. Alex then had to run - his boss needed something(??). The Halmoni (grandmother) saw that we were wrapping our potatoes in foil and took them to put in a little fire rather than making them on the bbq and she took care of them for us. So sweet!! 
We gathered around the bbq and ate as the meat was ready. Too hungry to wait. :D We ate until the first coals were out and waited for Alex to return. When the potatoes were ready, Halmoni brought them to us. SO good!! She also brought some salt for us to put on them and the meat. 
Alex then returned and he and Hal-aboji started the BBQ going again. I think we all ate too much!! Next to us, a large group of Koreans piled in and started up a bbq (fish). Later on in the evening, as people started heading back to the rooms for some zzzs, a few of them joined us. How I love random Koreans. If you talk to any foreigner that has lived in Korea, they will all tell you that one of the best things is the random Koreans that you meet. So fun. 
So funny!!! We even had one of them dancing to "Baby, One More Time." Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! I laughed so hard that I fell back off the bench.... and stayed there laughing.
You enter the exhibit through a giant mouth.
The kids got to brush the giant teeth.
Then it was over the tongue and down a slide into the throat.
We got to see the lungs and the liver.
We got to go through the heart (quite dark, actually).
In the stomach we got to see all the goodies
The kids got to learn all about the urinary tract,
We got to go inside a rather large pregnant woman
Then it was down a slide and through the intestines.
The kids had some time to climb around
[300 km/h]